What were the Roman-Jewish Wars?

Palestine had been for many years subject to the Romans — it was so when our Lord was there — but the Jews were too proud to submit willingly to their masters. From time to time there had been insurrections; one occasion is alluded to when the Jews relate to our Lord how Pilate had mingled the blood of the people with the sacrifices. (Luke 13:1.) What led to the final revolt and destruction not only of Jerusalem, but of other great cities, was the following: —

There were a number of Jews living at Caesarea who had erected a synagogue, but the ground on which it stood belonged to a Greek. The Jews wished to purchase the ground, and offered a large price for it; but the Greek refused to sell it, and to annoy them he erected various buildings on the spot, which scarcely left the Jews room to get to their place of worship. The Greeks in other ways annoyed the Jews until a disturbance and a fight were the result.

In B.C. 65 Syria became a Roman province and in the year 40 Herod was appointed by Rome king of Judaea, and he continued on the throne to N.T. times. The children of Israel inhabiting Judaea in those days were the descendants of Judah and Benjamin (except any individuals who may have found their way thither from the ten tribes). They were the people to whom the Messiah was presented, and who refused and crucified Him. They continued their persecution in the times of the apostles, and they will be dealt with separately from the ten tribes: cf. Matt. 24:4-35; Matt. 27:25.

They revolted from Rome, and in A.D. 70 Jerusalem was taken and destroyed, some of its inhabitants were sold as slaves, and thousands were slain. Dan. 9:26; Luke 21:12-24. Their descendants are scattered over the earth; but when God's set time is come they will be brought through the fire of judgement, and a remnant will be saved, restored to their own land, and blessed under their Messiah whom they now reject. Matt. 2:6; Heb. 8:8-12.

The accounts given by Josephus of the sufferings of the Jews during the siege are too awful to be transferred to our pages. The numbers that perished under Vespasian in the country, and under Titus in the city, from A.D. 67-70, by famine, internal factions, and the Roman sword, were one million three hundred and fifty thousand four hundred and sixty, besides one hundred thousand sold into slavery. Such alas! alas! were the awful consequences of disbelieving and disregarding the solemn, earnest, and affectionate entreaties of their own Messiah. Need we wonder at the Redeemer's tears, shed over the infatuated city? And need we wonder at the preacher's tears now, as he appeals to infatuated sinners, in view of coming and eternal judgments? Surely the wonder is that so few tears are shed over thoughtless, careless, perishing sinners. Oh, for hearts to feel as the Saviour felt and eyes to weep like His!

"Thus terminated the war of Jewish nationality. Various causes conspired to make this contest one of the most obstinate ever witnessed. The Roman legions were led by the ablest generals of the empire, and instigated by the recollection of the shameful defeat which they had sustained at the commencement of the war, and by the obstinate resistance now made by a small and unwarlike race whom they had long affected to despise. Nor was the issue of the struggle unimportant to the Roman state. Defeat under any circumstances would have been the first step in the decadence of an empire whose provinces bore so disproportionate a relation to the dominant country. Besides, Roman rule had never been firmly established eastward of Judaea, and on that account the latter country presented an important military position. Finally, the triumph of the Jews would have been fatal to the prestige of Rome in the East, and probably become the signal for a general rising in the neighbouring provinces. On the other hand, the Jews fought for national existence, for political and religious liberty, for their lives, for their hearths and homes. Flushed at first by victory, relying on the zeal and enthusiasm of the whole nation, and defending themselves in their own country and among its fastnesses against the foreign invaders, the Jews fought with the despair of men who knew what awaited them in case of defeat. Besides, they relied on promised succours from their brethren in the East, or at least on a diversion in their favour.

In Luke 21 we have our Lord's reply to the question as to the overthrow of Jerusalem and its temple. But so far from confounding this, as so many commentators do, with His own predicted return, or the signs which precede it, He carefully distinguishes the one part of the subject from the other, confirming thus, in the most powerful manner, the pre-millenarian argument drawn in our last from Matthew 24. There is no explicit reference in Matthew to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. In the chapter before us, there is; but instead of identifying it, as so many do, with what they designate "the figurative coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven," the Lord places it at the beginning, and His own actual coming at the end of those "days of vengeance" which were to fall upon the Jews; but He foretells nothing as to the Jews but vengeance and woe, and nothing as to the nations but evil, between the date of this discourse and His coming in the clouds of heaven. How then can a Millennium intervene? And as it is admitted that there is to be a Millennium, how incontestable that it is after, and not before, the second advent of Christ. But let us examine the passage.

From verse 8 to verse 20, our Lord predicts, in general terms, that wars and commotions should occur, that false Christs should appear, that nation should rise against nation, that there should be earthquakes, famines, pestilences, as well as fearful sights and great signs from heaven. That all these things came to pass in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem, is fully declared by Josephus himself, the Jewish historian. But our Lord forewarns his disciples, that prior to all these things they should be persecuted, and brought before kings and rulers for His name's sake; and He exhorts them in patience to possess their souls. In verse 20 He thus speaks: "And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies then know that the desolation thereof is nigh." Here is the explicit reply to the only part of the disciples' question which Luke records. Jerusalem being encompassed with armies was to be the sign of its approaching desolation. He proceeds: "Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written" — all the terrible predictions of wrath and judgment upon Israel — "may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations." Thus far, all clearly refers to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and to the calamities preceding it, attending it, or following immediately upon it. And now let the reader mark well the next words. "And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be," — When? Clearly, it the epoch just indicated, namely, the close of the times of the Gentiles — "signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things (the things thus foretold as connected with the close of the times of the Gentiles) begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws nigh." A prayerful, impartial consideration of these solemn words can hardly fail, as we judge, to confirm to the reader's mind, the conclusions already drawn from the corresponding chapter in Matthew's gospel. Some of the features peculiar to the passage before us, each affording additional evidence of our main position, or else neutralizing objections commonly made to it, we may now proceed to specify.

The Romans proceeded to put down the revolt, and Cestius Gallus marched into Palestine with his army. Zebulon, Joppa, and other places were quickly subdued; the Jewish inhabitants being put to death and the cities laid in ruins.

The Roman soldiers commenced the attack, and soon took a portion of the city; but inside they found another wall. This they proceeded to destroy; but, through want of resolution, Cestius called his men off, and apparently began to leave the city. This emboldened the Jews, who rushed out and put many of the Romans to death. Cestius still retreated, until they came to the narrow pass of Beth-horon. Here the Jews swarmed down the steep inclines and hurled stones on the heads of the retreating army. The way became blocked up, and the Romans, who were in the habit of fighting in ranks, seemed almost helpless, and thousands of them were slain. Cestius himself had to fly to save his life. The Romans abandoned their engines of war, and also took to flight. The Jews pursued them as far as Antipatris, when, finding they could not overtake more, they returned to secure the spoil, and to pillage the dead. They entered Jerusalem with hymns of triumph, having suffered but little, while the Romans lost 5,300 foot, and 380 horse. The Romans had not suffered such a defeat for many a year, and this one was the more disgraceful being at the hands of undisciplined people who were in a great measure without arms.

It could not be expected that Rome would let such a defeat go unavenged. Nero was still emperor: he called upon the most skilful of Rome's commanders — Vespasian — to quell the revolt and to punish the Jews generally. Vespasian, assisted by his son Titus, entered with spirit into the enterprise. Sixty thousand troops were placed under his command, with which to subdue Palestine.

The Jews in the meantime had not been idle. Walls were built and fortified, arms manufactured and provisions stored. They were, however, still divided: many greatly desired to submit to the Romans, while others were as determined to fight to the last.

As the result of the harsh and provocative rule of the Romans, the fanaticism of the Jews broke out in rebellion. To cope with this, Titus, son of the newly appointed Emperor Vespasian, advanced on Jerusalem at the head of an army of 100,000 trained and seasoned troops.

Destruction of Jerusalem.

From Jotapata Vespasian and Titus proceeded to destroy other cities, putting all the inhabitants to the sword or selling them as slaves. But we will relate only the destruction of Jerusalem.

The Jews found it a hard task morally, and in particular when entrusted with the then only revelation from God, to live in submission to the powers that be; idolatrous as these were and given up to a reprobate mind. The mass never accepted the Gentile yoke as the divine chastening of their own wickedness and departure from the God Who deigned to make them His people. And as their pride was irritated by the gospel which, on their rejection of the Messiah, God was now sending out to the nations no less than to themselves in His free and indiscriminate grace, their rebellious spirit also was growing till it drew down on them the days of vengeance in war, and desolation, as Dan. 9:26 predicted, as well as the Lord Himself (Matt. 21:38-41, Matt. 22:7, and Luke 21:20-24), in the last clearly distinguishing the Roman siege under Titus from the far more solemn events about to be in the consummation of the age (Luke 21:25-27, as still more fully given in Matt. 24:15-31, and Mark 13:14-27).